


Say Say Say What You Want

by schizoauthoress



Category: Ghostbusters (Movies 1984-1989), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Male Character, First Words Soulmate AU, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 10:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7434177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schizoauthoress/pseuds/schizoauthoress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People who have soulmates have Soul-Marks that consist of the first words their soulmate will say to them. The more unique the phrase, the easier it can be to find your soulmate.</p><p>Peter and Winston should be so lucky! (They aren't.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say Say Say What You Want

Peter Venkman remembers being eleven years old and noticing the faint, incomplete lines of his Soul-Mark beginning to shimmer into existence on his inner right forearm. He'd been so excited, remembering his grandmother's stories of how she and her soulmate, his grandfather, had met.

His parents weren't soulmates, and Peter had a front row seat to how that just didn't work out. When they'd divorced, he vowed that such a thing wouldn't happen to him. He would find his soulmate, and not settle before then.

Peter checked on the developing Soul-Mark every morning, so he knew immediately when it completed.

****

"Where's the rest?" young Winston Zeddemore asked his mother plaintively, holding up his right arm. Mrs. Zeddemore glanced down at her son's Soul-Mark. The golden letters shone on his dark skin, having only recently become clear and legible. His Mark was as beautiful as any of them, but the letters formed just a single word.

"Win, honey," she said gently, "you know that a Soul-Mark is the first thing your soulmate is gonna say to you."

"But... people say this all the time!" Winston exclaimed. "How will I know when it's my soulmate who says it?"

"You'll know. I promise."

****

Peter laughed wryly. Yet again, he'd woken with his right arm flung over his face, and just about the first thing he saw this morning was his Soul-Mark. For all the good having a clear Mark had done him, he might as well be a Blank.

Peter did what he could with it -- never giving a simple "You're welcome", sharpening his wit on those replies. But so many people said "Thanks" to him. Maybe he ought to try being a jerk instead.

This stupid Soul-Mark hadn't yet led him anywhere but to disappointment. Some days, Peter was sick of waiting.

****

"That's all you've got?" 

Winston bit back a sigh. He got that question a lot, and people seemed to think they were asking him something new. Sometimes he thought he ought to not roll up his sleeves, but it was damned hot in the jungle.

"Yeah," was all he said, "That's all I've got."

"Huh," the Kid -- not really a kid, but definitely the youngest in the unit, who'd probably lied about his age to serve -- said, studying the golden letters. "It's better than being Blank, I guess."

"My dad always said my soulmate must not talk much."

"Must not."

****

When Peter Venkman helped him gather the scattered pages from a thick report, smiling and saying that the weather patterns in the quad were downright inconsiderate some days, Egon Spengler looked at Peter over the top of his glasses, and said "Thank you," unaware of how the start had made Peter tense with anticipation.

"However," Egon continued, "I don't think one can assign malice to the wind, when building design can take the blame."

Peter grinned. "I can anthropomorphize whatever I want. Try and stop me."

"Hmph." Egon hugged his disordered report to his chest. "It's 'try to stop me'."

****

"Congratulations," purred the girl, who'd been hired for 'entertainment' over Winston's protestations, and he froze up. She trailed her long red nails along the buttons of his shirt, and smiled up at him in a manner that might have been seductive, had he not been reeling from that first word. "Your buddies tell me that you're the man of the hour. Won a medal for valor, huh?"

"That all they told you?" Winston asked.

When her gaze flicked toward his arm, he knew. A prank. She looked into his eyes and admitted, breezily, "Nah."

Across the room, Walter was laughing.

****

Peter had never wondered 'Is this the one?' about Ray Stantz, because Ray had handily disqualified himself. He'd hit Peter with a pitch about joining his research into the paranormal and talked for two minutes before Peter could even get a word in edgewise.

The enthusiasm was infectious, Peter supposed, or he'd been in a really weird mood that day, because he said "Sure, why not?" instead of running the other way. That was how most people in his program reacted to Ray and his talk of psychic abilities and paranormal phenomena.

It'd be good for a laugh, Peter thought.

****

Winston dates, despite none of them greeting him with the word on his arm. He's not going to sit around moping -- everyone knows the stories of soulmates born halfway around the world from each other.

At first, he dates women, as expected. Sometimes he and she will compare Soul-Marks for fun, and she usually giggles at his. He takes the women dancing, to dinner, to movies.

Older, back from Vietnam, Winston finds himself noticing men as well. He gathers his courage and dates a few. He takes the men dancing, to dinner, to movies.

There's something missing. He can wait.

****

Sometimes Peter feels bad about going back on his old promise to himself -- to wait for his soulmate, and never settle. But what did a scared eight-year-old boy know about the future? He shoves down the guilt, knowing that he's not really 'cheating' on his soulmate when he doesn't even know who they are yet, and tries to have fun.

It's a distraction, really. They all are.

Egon seems annoyed whenever Peter has a date, since it takes him away from research. Ray, at least, will tell Peter to have a good time.

"Always!" Peter says, and, "Don't wait up!"

****

The thing is, Winston finds himself too busy to worry about a missing soulmate. Some people live their whole lives without finding their soulmate, he knows. It would be sad, for sure, but he's not on his deathbed yet.

Sometimes Winston thinks that Big Ed might be giving him more responsibility as a foreman as a means of distraction from the search. It could, however, be motivated by nothing more complex than business need. He's never thought his father one for ulterior motives -- Big Ed's heart is on his sleeve, for good or ill.

Mama, though... Winston knows she worries.

****

"Sometimes I think your father and I gave you unrealistic expectations," Mrs. Venkman tells her son, visiting Columbia University to see his work. "You saw things go so badly with us that you won't give anyone a chance if they're not your soulmate."

"Ma!" Peter laughs, "When will I have time for a soulmate in between all the studying I'm doing? You worry too much."

"You certainly have enough time to spend with those girls you only date once."

Peter looks sheepish. "Ray told you about that, huh?"

"Ray told me about that." 

"Ray needs to mind his own business."

****

Winston is restless. He appreciates the job that he has, working under his father, but there's a feeling in the back of Winston's head that this is not what he's supposed to be doing. He doesn't want to leave Big Ed in the lurch, but there's something pulling him away from construction...

He prays about it, because that's what he was taught to do, asking for guidance -- if God has any to give right now. And he secretly pages through the want ads, looking without really knowing what he's looking for. He'll know it when he sees it. 

He hopes.

****

At least a third of the Ghostbusters' workload deals with the echoes of those who died without finding their soulmate in life. Those rarely have to be trapped, only talked into dispersing naturally.

Another third are older, less humanoid entities -- perhaps those that forgot their humanity, or more abstract concepts and figures given form by belief and a collective of psychokinetic energy.

And the rest aren't ghosts at all, but demons -- and other strange things that hide from human eyes, doing wickedness in the dark.

Egon's intrigued; Ray's ecstatic; Peter wishes ALL the things would stop being gross on him.

****

Winston watched the commercials, and initially dismissed them as yet another strange thing aimed at gullible people -- the sort who'd go to a palm reader to make a major decision.

One of his cousins works at the Sedgewick. The maids who'd seen the ghost were convinced of the Ghostbusters' legitimacy.

He comes across their classified ad -- crossed-out ghost logo, "Help Wanted, Please Inquire", and an address -- and mails out his resume.

The manila envelope he gets back contains a primer which looks like it belongs in a college textbook. Winston refuses to be intimidated, and walks to the old firehouse.

****

"Oh great," Ray grouses, looking at tonight's worksheet, "Two more free repeaters..."

Peter pulls the cigarette from his lips and fruitlessly tries to get a look over Ray's shoulder. He sighs, smoke on his breath.

"This is Winston Zeddemore; he's here about the job," Janine says quickly. 

Peter glances over as the black man rises from his chair. Both eyebrows go up. This one is a looker.

"Beautiful, you're hired." Ray gestures as he makes introductions, "Ray Stantz, Pete Venkman."

"Congratulations," Peter manages to say, as Winston makes eye contact, automatically reaching for a handshake. His heart is beating hard.

****

Winston beams, briefly clasping Pete Venkman's hand and saying, "Thanks," as he passes, introductory packet still in hand. He is a few steps from Ray Stantz when Pete's response hits him, but Ray -- who must be the one in charge -- speaks again.

"Help me, please." Not a question despite the polite phrasing. Ray holds up several smoking ghost-traps. He has a grip on the power cords, and grins at Winston's apprehensive look. Winston gamely holds out his arms, and Ray lowers the equipment into his grasp, saying cheerfully, "Welcome aboard!"

Winston grimaces. This wasn't how he'd imagined meeting his soulmate.

****

He wasn't supposed to reply.

Peter stands there, feeling the ectoplasm splattered on his coveralls soaking through, and for once not caring. He'd gone through his life as a Marked man thinking that his Soul-Mark, that single word, would be said to him first. He'd never even considered that he might be the first one to speak.

"Dr. Venkman?" Janine asks.

Whatever else she might have said is interrupted by Egon clattering down the stairs, PKE meter in hand. "There's been an unusual spike in psychokinetic energy right here in--" The physicist stops, then turns to Peter. "Oh, it's you."

****

"It's me?" Winston asks, as Ray excitedly waves the PKE meter back and forth at him.

"Yes! Like I said, there's some kind of variance in the energy readings, and since the traps and containment unit are secure..."

"Do... soulmates give off that... psych-whatever stuff?"

"Psychokinetic energy," Ray corrects automatically. Then his dark eyes go wide. "Soulmates? You mean?"

Winston peels off his jacket and rolls up his right shirtsleeve, exposing the golden letters of his Soul-Mark. The letters are not just glittering, as they've done before, but seem to be glowing faintly.

"You met your soulmate! Here! Just... recently..."

****

"EGON!" Ray bellows up from the basement.

Egon's mouth quirks slightly. "I take it Ray is with your newly discovered soulmate?" he asks.

Peter nods. He still feels thrown by the whole thing. "Ray just hired him."

"So he's our fourth Ghostbuster," Egon observes, unflappable as ever.

"Winston Zeddemore," Janine supplies helpfully.

And Peter is sitting in the chair so recently vacated by Winston Zeddemore. He'd barely gotten a good look at the man, all because of... Peter glares toward the basement door. "I'm gonna kill him."

"What?!" Janine demands, confused.

"Ray! He's the reason my Soul-Mark is one word!"

****

"This is great!" Ray enthuses. (Winston is starting to realize that Ray enthuses about a lot.) "Of course. the soulmate phenomenon has been studied before, but never with our kind of equipment. This could yield fascinating new information, and help us better understand how it all works!"

"You know me," Peter says dryly, "Always willing to contribute to the cause."

Winston can't help but smile at that, leans in close, and asks in an undertone, "Take one for the team?"

Peter starts, then grins and asks in a suggestive tone, "Are you offering?"

Egon huffs, and fiddles with the meter.


End file.
